I spend most of my time on the iphone boards, and I must admit, given the amount of trolling and the ridiculously NEGATIVE posting style of so many regulars, I must say: it's too bad we can no longer "vote down" our fellow posters.

No it's not. Disagreeing with someone shouldn't result in down voting. Man up and debate it; don't down vote and walk away.

I couldn't care less, the voting never bothered me one way or the other. If it did I'd probably try to kiss more ass.

I agree with you.

Having the 'down vote' meant that some of the threads sometimes snowballed into expressions of sheer negativity. Worse, as jessica says, far too often someone down-voted a post simply because they disagreed with it, rather than because they thought the post was appalling or had expressed some disagreeable or dreadful sentiment.

Yesterday there was a thread. The first reply was some variant on "cool story bro". It had a vote of ZERO. I think, if it had a -4, then perhaps the next 5 replies wouldn't have been some other adolescent meme or variant of "cool story bro".
Like it or not, these boards (particularly the iphone boards) are full of teens. Teens respond to peer pressure. Seeing the first "cool story bro" voted down does have an impact.

Without the down vote button, the up vote button HAS effectively become what you describe.

Without overall feedback numbers, a post with a vote tally of zero doesn't really say anything: could be no one voted, or could mean 50 people up-voted, and another 50 down-voted (and there are plenty of people on MR who would --and have-- up-vote a comment like 'cool story, bro')

__________________Flash will be around a lot longer than Steve Jobs will.

Having the 'down vote' meant that some of the threads sometimes snowballed into expressions of sheer negativity. Worse, as jessica says, far too often someone down-voted a post simply because they disagreed with it, rather than because they thought the post was appalling or had expressed some disagreeable or dreadful sentiment.

That's my point. The voting system, as it once was, was a breeding ground for passive people to say something without saying it at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiPi

Some people cant handle the truth... Users get offended when not everyone agrees with them.

Its pathetic... Very much like ebays system of sellers not being able to leave buyers negative feedback

I can handle people not liking what I say or do. That is my autobiography in less than a minute. I simply don't think this site works with voting. It's absurd and used by too many who dislike what is said, despite accuracy, in lieu of actual words. It was an easy way out for those who lack the basic intelligence necessary to formulate mindful sentences to get their point across.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LapsangSouchong

Yesterday there was a thread. The first reply was some variant on "cool story bro". It had a vote of ZERO. I think, if it had a -4, then perhaps the next 5 replies wouldn't have been some other adolescent meme or variant of "cool story bro".
Like it or not, these boards (particularly the iphone boards) are full of teens. Teens respond to peer pressure. Seeing the first "cool story bro" voted down does have an impact.

I like the current system. The DownVotes imply that somebody disagrees, except without any explanation whatsoever. I really don't mind the upvotes, all it means is that somebody agrees, which doesn't really require any explanation at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LapsangSouchong

Yesterday there was a thread. The first reply was some variant on "cool story bro". It had a vote of ZERO. I think, if it had a -4, then perhaps the next 5 replies wouldn't have been some other adolescent meme or variant of "cool story bro".

I don't get it... if somebody told the poster that they were being rude, wouldn't it have had the same effect?

Do people really pay this much attention to the voting system? Honestly, I don't even look at the number of up (and/or previously, down) votes a post has; I read the content of that post, and move on to the next. If I want to respond to a post, I do so by, you know, responding to it. Not just an anonymous thumbs up or down.

Perhaps if we had our usernames attached to our upvotes or downvotes, then the system could be actually useful, instead of "hit and run" voting. But knowing the recent populace that prevails on these forums, it also opens up a whole new can of worms to deal with, such as potential for increased personal attacks and finger pointing.

Therefore, I say it should just be done away with. It really serves no purpose.

Such posts are considered frivolous and are against the rules. Report it and it will be removed.

That will be the only way; but it will keep the mods busy. On the positive side it will after some learning curve keep those posts and posters away as they can't find themselves anymore in the threads.